New head of Swedish Banking at Swedbank

Kjell Hedman will become the new head of the Swedish Banking Business Area, which comprises the branch office network and telephone and internet banking in Sweden, on 1st December.

“We will continue our efforts to be perceived as the market leader when it comes to service. In Kjell Hedman, Swedish Banking is gaining a manager with many years of experience and who will focus on further improving our customer relations,” says Jan Lidén, Swedbank’s President and CEO.

“We want to be at the forefront of the development of simple, value for money products that offer a high service level, when it comes to internet and telephone banking and branch offices in the Swedish market. We will be increasing the tempo of our efforts to adapt our service provision and the quality of our service, based on customers’ needs and expectations,” says Kjell Hedman, Executive Vice President and the new head of the Swedish Banking Business Area.

Kjell Hedman previously held the position of Vice President and Head of Customer Offerings & Products within the Swedish Banking Business Area. Catrin Fransson, currently head of the Northern Region, will succeed Kjell Hedman in this position.

Swedish Banking is one of five business areas within the Swedbank Group and accounted for 54 per cent of the Group’s profits, as of Q3 this year.

For further information:

Jan Lidén, President & CEO, Swedbank, tel. +46 8 585 922 27

Kjell Hedman, Executive Vice President, Customer Offerings & Products Manager, tel. +46 708 53 81 88

Anna Sundblad, Press Manager, Swedbank, tel. +46 70 321 39 95

Swedbank’s vision is to be the leading financial institution in the markets where we are present. Swedbank has 9 million retail customers and 500,000 corporate customers with more than 470 branches in Sweden, 290 branches in the Baltic countries and another 190 branches in Ukraine. The group is also present in Copenhagen, Helsinki, Kaliningrad, Luxembourg, Marbella, Moscow, New York, Oslo, Shanghai, St. Petersburg and Tokyo. As of December 2006 the group had total assets of SEK 1,400 billion and approximately 17,000 employees. For more information about Swedbank, please visit www.swedbank.com.